This page aims to help you with the removal of PlayPopGames. These PlayPopGames removal instructions work for Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer, as well as every version of Windows.

If your computer is experiencing a sudden increase in number for pop-up adverts, banners and tab redirects it is likely because you have PlayPopGames installed on your machine. This application is well known to belong to the Adware family of malware. It is connected to your Chrome, Firefox or IE browser via the plug-in attachment system and it alters the behavior of your browser so that it will display promotional Ads. Adware like PlayPopGames is usually not dangerous, but may be annoyingly hard to remove. We have created this article in order to help you uninstall it.

The Ads created by PlayPopGames are not only annoying – they might also be dangerous

The primary goal of Adware applications is to create revenue for the person behind them. They are distributed at large in an attempt to infect as many computers as possible. The Ads created by them are very aggressive and invasive – these applications are known to read into your browser’s history in order to create the most relevant Ads and link them to online resellers you may trust. This behavior is worrying, because there is no way to know if the Adware is sending this information back home – and to whom it may be resold. If you value your privacy you should remove PlayPopGames as soon as possible.

As mentioned PlayPopGames is not here to make you a favor. In fact very often there are different types of scams operating behind the scenes – phishing websites or advertisement for useless software, which the Ads will try to make you believe you really need. PC optimization and repair software is very often marketed this way – you are promised a free scan to make sure all is OK and next thing you know the scan finds your computer full of problems. These type of programs will report programs on every computer – even one freshly formatted and with the latest updates installed. The goal of the scam is to scare you into buying the software with bogus or overly exaggerated threats. If you believe your computer may be really in trouble remove PlayPopGames first and then look for a solution online – never trust random programs advertised through shady channels like Adware. The worst of them can actually damage your PC instead of fixing it!

How did PlayPopGames appear on your PC?

Most people, who find themselves in possession of this Adware application, cannot recall installing it on their own. This is usually true, but it is also true that they did install it – inadvertently. This type of software is very often included in the installers of other programs, most commonly free ones, but sometimes also in commercial too. This practice is called software bundling and anyone who uses the default/quick installation option is very susceptible to it.

Basically if you go with the quick installation by default you also agree to install whatever features and programs the creator of the installer has seen fit to put inside. This can lead to the installation of different type of unwanted programs like PlayPopGames. The best way to avoid becoming infected by Adware in this manner is to always select the advanced installation option. If you take this route you’ll go through several menus and one of them will list all the programs and features you are about to install. It is highly recommended that you remove all programs, plugins etc. that are not required by the main program you are installing. On paper some may seem useful, but most of the time you’ll end up with something like PlayPopGames, which can also give you a headache when you try to remove it later.

Remove PlayPopGames from Firefox:

Click—>Settings —>Search —>Manage Search Engines. Remove everything but your normal search engines. Open Settings —>On Start up —>Open a specific page or set of pages —> Set pages and do the same there.

Right click on the browser’s shortcut —> Properties.

NOTE: We are showing Google Chrome, but you can do this for Firefox and IE (or Edge) as well.

Properties —–> Shortcut. In Target, remove everything after .exe.

Hold together the StartKeyand R. Type appwiz.cpl –>OK.

You are now in the Control Panel. Look for suspicious entries.Uninstall it/them. If you see a screen like this when you click Uninstall, choose NO:

Hold the Start Keyand R – copy +paste the following and click OK:

notepad %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/hosts

A new file will open. If you are hacked, there will be a bunch of other IPs connected to you at the bottom. Look at the image below:

If there are suspicious IPs below “Localhost” – write to us in the comments.

In Networking, left click Internet Protocol Version 4 —> Properties. If everything is normal, your window will look like this:

If it’s not, click on the two “automatic” choices. NOTE: If you are in a domain network, contact your Domain Administrator so he can make these settings, or this may break your Internet Connection.

Press CTRL + SHIFT + ESC simultaneously. Go to the Processes Tab. Try to determine which ones are a virus. Google them or ask us in the comments.

A BIG WARNING! READ THIS BEFORE PROCEEDING!

This is the most important and difficult part, so be extremely careful. If you make a big mistake, it can damage your system significantly. Accounts connected to your credit cards or important information may be exposed to PlayPopGames. If you do not feel you can do this,download a professional remover.

Right click on each of the virus processes and select Open File Location, thenEnd the process. Copy the folders somewhere (as a backup if you make a mistake) and delete the directories you were sent to.

Type msconfig in the search field and hit enter. A window will pop-up:

Startup —>Uncheck entries that have “Unknown” as Manufacturer.

Type Regedit in the windows search field and press Enter.

Inside, press CTRL and F together and type the virus’s Name. Right click and delete any entries you find with a similar name. If they don’t show this way, go manually to these directories and delete/uninstall them:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER—-Software—–Random Directory. It could be any one of them – ask us if you can’t discern which ones are malicious. HKEY_CURRENT_USER—-Software—Microsoft—-Windows—CurrentVersion—Run– Random HKEY_CURRENT_USER—-Software—Microsoft—Internet Explorer—-Main—- Random